


Hold on to me, because I am little unsteady

by Greenscale



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Brotherly Love, Coruscant Guards (Star Wars), Developing Relationship, F/M, Friends to Lovers, Kind of Canon Compliant, Mutual Pining, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Self-Esteem Issues, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-03
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:48:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,382
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28527243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Greenscale/pseuds/Greenscale
Summary: Attempt to write kind of canon compliant Fox/Riyo Chuchi. Ok, I stick there some my own bulljittery for plot reasons, but wish it's accurate sounding enough.I will add there more characters and tags as the story goes on.Rated Mature because don't want to spend time warning from every curse etc. There won't be anything explicit. English is not my first language and I have Dyslexia, so be patient with this one.
Relationships: Fox & Thorn & Thire, Riyo Chuchi/CC-1010 | Fox
Comments: 9
Kudos: 28





	1. 1

Commander Fox looked at a small pantoran, presumed woman who had just stepped out from the just landed shuttle. They indeed were looking small was the only thing Fox was able to comply. The security information offered to him earlier about the pantoran senator also stated that she was 21, apparently very young for humanoid standards. As if any clone would comment anything about that... Senator Chuchi had not been serving as a senator for that long, just a couple of weeks, a month or two at most and Fox could still remember how her arrival had been announced and he had ordered the security sweep for her to be made. What a time to become a senator. 

This day had been busy, just like any other before and Fox and his brothers had been on the run since the morning. There had been an assasination attempt at few levels downer when the senator of Corellia had been sneaking to their lover without security detail and they needed to figure out how this kind of nonsense had been able to happen under their noses: the senator had been on their red alert list due reasonable thread of attempt for their life. Two shinies who had been assigned to guard the senators quarters during the night trembling, but apparently they had not done anything wrong while guarding. It had just been idiocy of the senator themselve which had caused this, but apparently this still, somehow, was their fault according to said senator. That worthless shabs had been informing Fox that he was going to complain to Chancellor himself and even Fox sometimes did got a strange feeling from the Chancellor the Commander knew that even the elder human could not blame the clones about this incident. 

And still he had needed to hold an urgent hearing about the matter to find out IF something had been wrong or handled carelessly.   
Just the sight of it, how afraid the shinies had been when facing him, had dampened Fox's mood even more. Was he really that scary? The commander knew he was not that easy personality, but that only meeting him would make shinies almost wet themselves? Kriff... What kind of stories were they telling about him to these poor kids?  
There had been several multi vehicle speeder crashes around the megacity, making the Coruscant police forces very busy. It seemed to have become a popular challenge in social media to do a droid challenge aka try to jump on a security droid or try to make them crash and because of the war, there were several wrecked security droids they simply had no credits to fix, so more and more clones were used at the street patrolling. And clones needed upkeep even scarcer than for natborns, but still sufficient nutrition, equipment and clothing. And places to rest were needed to support a clone when a droid would only need a loading station, some electricity and occasional maintenance. 

Fox straightened his posture a bit when the tiny senator approached him and was happy about his bucket: she could not see that he was actually trying to figure out her tattoos. Fox liked tattoos. Many of his brothers were having those, but he ... well he had not got any so far. There was no time for such nonsense and he really did not need any more distraction than he actually was having currently.   
But there was also more. The young senator was very attractive in most humanoid standards, yes, even Fox was able to notice that and he was not as good at noticing such things as some of his brothers were. And yes, they had made fun of it to him, until Fox had reached the rank of commanding officer at Coruscant Guard and almost nobody dared to tease him anymore. Naturally his patch mates and other commanders, but not regular soldiers. 

The senators were living at their separate apartments around the Coruscant but mostly at the representative and luxurious Senate District. Many had their own security forces but the Coruscant guard were used by those senators who had no guards on their own ( lack of own guards were seen as a sign of insignificance so only a very small number of senators or representatives had no their own guards), who were under danger or who had required more quards because of being danger. Or as in Senator Chuchi’s case: because half of their pantoran guards have been assigned to support Pantoras chairman's security detail while he was visiting the Coruscant. And the rest of the half of the Senators security detail had succumbed to some kind of nasty stomach flu from expired mon cala mussels. 

They had needed someone high rank enough to work as her security detail today at the Senate and while Thorn, Stone, Thire and others were running errands they could not skip (like trying to actually organize arrest for assassin who had attempted the life of that Corellian senator, have a briefing with the Jedi council of upcoming mission and delegating works for lower ranking members for the guard before running into a meeting with Coruscant police forces). So the only possible option to greet the senator and made sure she was taken care of today was Fox himself. He would lie to say that he'd rather been doing something else than escorting a senator. 

"Welcome, senator", he politely announced.   
"Thank you, sir", senator Chuchi said, hiding their uncertainty about how to address him way better than most of the senators he had seen did. And their smile actually looked rather genuine. Fox lifted an eyebrow under his bucket: she was even more attractive while she was smiling.   
“My name is CC-1010 and I am going to be your guard today, senator”, Fox explained and the small pantoran nodded, eyeing him with something that was probably curiosity. Then the senator just nodded and … offered a delicate, small hand to Fox. The clone blinked from surprise.   
“Since we are today going to be somewhat colleagues today, it is my pleasure to meet you CC-1010”, the senator said clearly, waiting for Fox to shake hands. Which the commander actually did after realizing he had frozen for a moment.   
“Like vice, senator”, he said and got a dazzling smile as a response, smiling back even though they could not see it due to his bucket. They started to walk towards the rotunda from the landing platform. Fox soon realized that he could not walk as fast as normally since the senator was much shorter than him and their heeled boots were making it difficult for them to walk so fast, as if they had not yet mastered the art of wearing heels yet.   
“May I ask, CC-1010, do you have any other name you do prefer to be called?” Senator Chuchi suddenly asked and turned to look at Fox.   
“I’m afraid that’s against the regulations, ma’am”, he said and when seeing the surprised and somewhat ashamed expression the pantoran was reflecting Fox felt like he had just kicked a tooka kit.   
Kriff. His cheeks were getting warm and the commander was happier than ever that they were ordered to keep their buckets on while on duty. There were few exceptions, but meeting a senator was not one.   
“Oh”, they simply said and something felt like breaking inside Fox's chest when seeing that she was somewhat a bit upset about his answer. Frosting over his heart, would Bly claim, but thankfully his vod was not here and Fox actually felt how he really needed to fix this. She clearly had tried to be genuinely nice to him! 

“But…”, he started:” You can call me commander, senator”, he tried to offer some sort of consolidation. And the young senator actually smiled again in that very attractive way, making Fox’s heart skip a beat and he noticed how he was, again, smiling back to her under his helmet. Oh no, this was not a good thing, but a small voice in his brain told that this was exactly what he wanted: to see her smiling again.   
“That’s more than perfect, commander, please, call me Riyo”, they said and there it was, that smile again. A smile that could bring sunshine to the endless rain of Kamino. And he had to snuff it out again.   
“I am afraid that that’s against the regulations as well, senator”, he had to inform they again.   
“Oh…” and a silence fell between them, while Fox actually tried to figure out how to fix this this time.   
“Would senator Chuchi be sufficient?” the Senator suddenly asked and Fox made a small huff:” That would be perfect, Senator Chuchi.”   
And he realized only then that he was, again, smiling. 

~~

Riyo’s morning had been awful. She was awfully nervous because of the visit of the chairmen. To be honest she was actually a bit intimidated by chairman Cho, who was older and actually her superior in the sense of tradition.   
And the chairman was actually rather impolite to her and told quite strictly about his opinion of it that she was a young woman and in such a position. And then she had got a word that what had been left of her security detail had been succumbed by an illness, today from all of the days!   
Today when she was supposed to meet with senators Mothma, Organa, Amidala and other prominent and important figures who were influential enough to prove Pantorans that she was capable of this kind of matters. And with whom she shared similar opinions of politics and hopefully in personal life as well. Riyo had needed another cup of strong caf before contacting the Coruscant guard by herself since she still was lacking personal aides. She had been so relieved when the clone officier she had been able to contact had assured her that all was going to be arranged and even some were claiming they were just meat droids she could have kissed that certain clone even not knowing who he was. 

Young senator had spent her morning after that absently dressing up, make up, eating breakfast and reading the news all over Galaxy and the notes of what had been discussed lately in the Senate meetings. And when her driver Al-89 took her to the senate landing area she was so excited she could have screamed. This was so important for her future career!   
And when seeing the member of Coruscant Guard just waiting for her, she knew that this was something she was good at and wanted to do.   
But when the soldier spoke everything else went blank in her head, it was almost like in some sort of bad Shilian holodrama! She had heard clones talking before but not like this: freely. Even this was an interaction strictly official and followed by the regulations and manners she instantly liked CC-1010. Actually the mask just sparked her curiosity even more.   
And she really tried to talk with the tall human, but it ended up being just awkward. Thanks stars Commander in red, as she decided to call them, was indeed a very polite person! Even Commander's handshake had been something really steady and assuring.   
Oh no. This was not a time to start mooning over a faceless person who had been just doing their job. And as her mother had said: You could not fall in love with everyone who just happened to be nice to her. But … She kind of wanted to. She wanted to have someone to hold, kiss and to be good to.   
And only then she noticed that the Commander in Red, or CC-1010, was probably waiting for her to tell what they were scheduled for that day. 

~~

Senator Organa's personal quarters at the Senate building were well suitable for a man of his status: senator of an important and wealthy planet with long traditions of belonging to the Republic and the prince consort of his homeworld. Bail Organa was not just a Senator, he was also a member of an old, inherited power elite, which as a structure was not that strange to Pantora either, but during the last 100 years such a structure had become less and less important to them. Yet in Alderaan it had become an increasingly bigger part of their identity. The Galaxy was such an interesting place!   
Sitting around a fine design table in plush, satin covered and clearly high craftsmanship chair Riyo could not help but feel like not actually belonging here. Or more like … Not deserving that place yet. Or rather that she had not done yet anything notable enough to get kindness from these, skilled politicians. 

“And you definitely should join committees”, senator Organa said with a firm voice.   
“Indeed!” senator Farr said and Riyo could not help but smile at the older Rodian senator. She really felt accepted, supported and respected in this group, no matter that she was a senator of Pantora, an Outer Rim ice moon, as some less sympathetic persons had told her.   
“There are several committees”, Mon Mothma said and Padmé nodded.   
“I am part of the Committee for transportation of construction materials”, senator Organa explained and grimaced:'' I know how boring and horrifyingly dry that sounds like, but that is really something you should consider too, since we do try to made decisions of purchases, transportation roads and the distribution of construction materials across the Galaxy in sites that are build with Republics support. Much like factories, facilities and sadly less in recent times, cultural projects.”   
“Well”, she started calculating her next answer carefully.   
“I do think that it would be good for Pantora”, she agreed, but knew that she would need to get familiar with all the committees and then choose what she would find the best fitting option. Just it that someone recommended something did not mean it would be best for her and the people she was representing, no matter what status the recommender was having.   
And even while she was sitting there she could not help but wonder would the Commander CC-1010 be utterly bored while waiting for her in the corridor. 

~~

To be honest Fox was bored, but at same time doing nothing was a rare luxury. He was leaning against a wall just outside of Senator Organa’s office and just idle. Commander could not really remember when he had had time for such laziness actually ever before. At Kamino it had never been a good idea to just sit down and be lazy if it was not a scheduled thing like sleeping. Even eating was descripted as a mechanical performance, so eating tasteless nutrigel and other stuff had not been even an enjoyable event so the cadets had been just happy that it had been fastly over.   
The other guards seemed not startled to see a member of Coruscant guard attending. And when thinking about it, they quite regularly were present in the Senate. Even at these kind of quarters, yet more common sight were the Senate Guards in their blue robes and equipment. They were elite soldiers and between the clones and the Senate Guard there was deep distrust since the Senate Guards felt personally hurt from it that Chancellor Palpatine had lifted the Coruscant Guard also working at the Senate District, in the Senate and as a partial protector force of the Senators. Something that had traditionally belonged to the Boys in Blue. And when learning more about the situation Fox could not blame them. They must have already felt somewhat under-approved since Chancellor Palpatine had, rather than using their services as the chancellors traditionally did, established his own guard: the Red Guard. Fox must have to admit that they all were skilled, but the Red Guard was only loyal to the Chancellor himself.   
So Fox tried to be polite to them no matter what was thrown towards him and his boys by those frustrated men: they could get along even when not liking each other. And to be honest, Fox actually respected many of them, like captain Jayfron and captain Taggard. 

He knew that he was receiving personal messages and group messages, but he was not responding. Not now, he had a mission to fulfill. Fox knew that there could be even something urgent or important in those messages, but he was working now and if his brothers or anyone else had something so important to tell him, they were better to com him instead of sending a sorry excuse of a message. Especially since they knew how precise Fox was in these things. He also barely interacted with the other guards here who actually did try to talk with him, but after a few, one worded answers the Clone Commander gave to them they gave up.  
Fox was not even thinking that it was probably not doing any good for it that the clones were seen as meat droids, but he had a task to full fill and it was not being nice with strangers. It was protecting a senator. 

When the door opened and senators Amidala and Chuci stepped out Fox and Amidala’s personal guards were instantly straightening their postures and without a word slipping to walk behind their senators. 

“... I really would love to have you at the committee for Outer Rim trade routes, Riyo”, he heard senator Amidala saying and Fox instantly tried not to listen.  
It was not his place to listen to the private and political conversations the senators were having. He was here for totally different purposes and anything he was hearing while working for senator Chuchi was strictly confidential if it was not criminal, no matter how ethically questionable or morally grey that might be.   
Yet, Fox felt that senator Chuchi would never do anything suspicious. They seemed to be a sweet little thing and …   
The clone commander kicked himself inwardly letting his thoughts wonder. He was in duty and she was a senator. A fripping senator he had no right or time to moon over someone he was never going to have for so many reasons. And he could not start to like the first person who was nice to him!

He was a good soldier, he was not sticking his nose in places where it should not be. 

~~

After a short meeting with Padmè, Riyo politely told to Commander CC-1010 that she was good for the day.   
She might have had something else, but to be honest she felt like a real nuisance: the clone commander surely had better things to do than just be there for her! 

"I'll call your personal shuttle, senator", the soldier promised and after a moment that seemed to be complete silent to them both, yet Riyo knew that commander probably had some sort of wireless communication system inbuilt into his helmet and she had seen clones using com-devices as well, the clone nodded. 

"Your ride had been arranged, senator. I still must insist you stay here with me", CC-1010 explained, even though he had a feeling that Senator Chuci was not one of these senators who were going to cause him troubles by not following orders and logical reasoning. 

"Naturally, Commander", she said and lashed a smile to him. If asked from Fox, that was the most beautiful smile he had ever seen and even senator Amidala had smiled at him. 

They stood there in silence. To Fox it was awkward silence because he did not know what to do with this sudden want to talk with the Senator, the sudden eutheism to … chatter. If his brothers would ever find out this moment of weakness, they would never stop pestering him about her!  
And still, he could not figure out anything smart to be said. The senator just was so beautiful. 

When finally escorting a small pantoran back to their shuttle Fox hoped that he had been like most of the habitants of this Galaxy: Free to choose about his own life. But as a clone, even thinking about Senator Chuchi was as far from his grip as the blue sky over Coruscant megapolis was from those who were born at its lowest levels.


	2. 2

When Fox next met Senator Chuci it was while he was leaving from a meeting with Chancellor Palpatine. 

It could not really be called meeting someone: rather it was seeing someone. The Senator was walking absently looking through the corridors of the Senate. Their beautiful, bubblegum coloured hairs were adorned with golden pins, ornaments and hair needless.   
Fox kind of wanted to greet them but the truth was that they were not really knowing even that well that Fox could say the Senator was not minding a mere clone to greet them. 

And they were in a hurry. From the distance Fox looked how the senator continued their own daily routine and he continued his own. 

~~

Riyo saw clones almost daily. She often tried to see whether or not they were hers “Red commander”, but they never were: the decorations of their plastoid armours were always different.   
And she knew she could not actually refer to CC-1010 as HER commander. Surely the commander had been assisting hundreds of other senators already. She doubted the clone would even remember her or know who she was if they were about to meet again. After all she was just a senator of an insignificant small moon from the Outer Rim and there were way more important and visible figures they had to deal with daily than her.   
And still, she always hoped to see “Red” again. Even she had been so awkward when they had waited for her shuttle!   
Riyo was shy, but when with CC-1010 she had felt like a silly school girl again. That had been so embarrassing! She had wanted to say something, but simply couldn’t. Not that commander had been somewhat threatening or rude. No! There was a lot of disinformation about clones and the Republic seemed to be slow or even unwilling to act against that information. 

She just .. Had so much wanted to be seen and to make a good impression that after all everything had sounded and felt too childish! Too stupid! 

Riyo sighed and pressed her data pads corner absently with one of her fingernails. Why indeed would CC-1010 remember her existance? 

~~ 

Fox shifted uneasily. The senator was a very attractive person, that he had to admit even to his own horror. 

He saw how Senator Clovis leaned closer to they, shared a few words making the smaller Senator laugh (even the laugh of the Pantoran senator was appealing!) and started to walk side by side towards the rotunda, their personal guards at their tails. 

Yeah. Why would a person like Riyo Chuci even remember that he existed?   
Determed to ignore his aching heart the Commander turned at his heels to go different way. Sure they would be happier with someone like Rush Clovis?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was intentionally shorter chapter. Next one will be longer. 
> 
> If you have any questions or comments I'd be glad to hear these!


	3. 3

Fox was running down the hallway towards the medbay. He was pacing when the door opened way too slowly for his taste. 

[i] “C’mon, c’mon, c’mon… Dank Farrik…” [/i] the commander found himself muttering when the door felt to be too slow to simply slide open. 

When the door finally opened Fox was running again. Thire had been injured. That was the only relevant thing Fox could handle at this moment. His brother had been injured. His little brother had been injured! 

He decided to be daring and take a shortcut through the senate building. Most of the senators were not present today and especially at this late hour. And it was not actually against the regulations, but not encouraged. 

And then he literally hit someone. 

~~ 

Riyo had had a rather busy day so far. 

The morning had started with a rather unpleasant holo call from chairman Cho the elder Pantoran informing her that her actions to get the Grand Army Outpost at Orto Plutonia had been the most efficient and pleasing act in the eyes of the planet's elite.   
Even though she got praised she actually felt like she kind of wanted to cry. She had known that chairman Cho was a rough man, very autocratic. But the fact that he actually disliked her just because she was a young, educated woman who was working at Galactic Senate rather than searching for a partner to be able to produce several children as good girls had been doing when Chairmen Cho had been young, was hurting. 

She had seen some of the politics and bills the Chairmen had worked as a young man, while being a senator himself, and those had been smart and admirably ambitious, even quite bold and progressive. But now the elder Pantoran was just a symbol of regression and old, already partly aside pushed traditions nobody other than conservative powers of her home world were missing.  
All of this reminded her how there still was so much to do about gender equality just at her home world, even the situation was getting better in Galaxy-wide perspective. Yet the Chairman's last note of it, how the station at their system had pleased the old power elite. Well. That reminded Riyo of the fact that she could not simply claim corruption being a problem only at the Core World as the vastly spreading Separatist movement had claimed.   
No. It was at her home as well. And that reminded Riyo why she needed to work even harder to keep her home safe. It made her skin crawl to think that they more or less expected her to be their puppet. She had seen senators who were just puppets of their masters at home planet. 

After that she had gone into a meeting for the Outer Rim Trade development committee just to realize how alone Pantora was. And how her predecessor had neglected their trade agreements with … literally everyone. And not just trade agreements but apparently everything: trying to negotiate everything again would be a hellish job, but Riyo knew that she was going to be able to do it. She just needed to have time to arrange a meeting with all of them. Lasan had to be the first just because it was the closest. Naturally there was always the option known as the Trade Federation, but Riyo would never do such an action since everybody knew that they were technically the same as the Confederacy of Independent Systems. They just were too slimy to admit it out loud and were now playing with two hands of cards. Disgusting if asked from Riyo, but she knew better to keep her opinion on her own since it was not smart to shout it out loud and not even civilized.   
Luckily representative of Lasan, an elderly lady named Chriva Travellos had time for a meeting right after the Outer Rim Trade development committees meeting. Since Lasan was not an official part of the Republic, but rather a neutral system officially staying out from the Galactic Civil War their representative had not as much duties as Riyo and other senators and representatives from actual members of the Republic, representative Travellos had also been quite happy from Riyos approach. 

Riyo hated to think that she’d been crawling in front of the lasat, but to be honest, Pantora needed more trade companions.   
And it was clear that representative Travellos had not trusted her. Yet they still had had a good yet tight negotiation and been able to agree with some kind of draft they were hopefully in near future turning into a proper agreement they could send as a petition for their governments and in best case scenario be accepted after only some reasonable modification.   
There was so much to be done, so much good she could do for her planet. So much good she could do for the Outer Rim. 

She smiled with determination even feeling tired, but after all, she had been successful and this had been a good day's work.   
Her guards walked closely behind her and were able only to make a small shout when something hit her behind the next corner. She went down letting out a yelp of surprise, trying to catch something with her arms but all she could reach was plastoid. 

~~ 

At the moment Fox realized that he had run through someone he just closed his eyes and tried to minimize the damage. 

Oh hell… This was not what he had intended. He never should have run in the Senate. 

Riyo hit the senate floor with her elbow first, feeling confused of what had happened and soon the other part of their collasion rather ungracefully fell over her, hitting their helmeted head and chest to her left hip and side. Her head jerked backwards, making her headpieces jingle and strands of her hair getting loose from her hairdo. 

Her guards were pointing blasters at the person, a clone soldier, who had made her fall to the floor as if she was a pawn on Dejarik. With a groan she turned herself to lay at her back so that she could see better what had happened and almost instantly Riyo saw the familiar red paint of the Coruscant guard and … This was CC-1010! Her Red commander! 

She hurried to show to her guards that there was no need to execute anyone at the spot. The commander behaved almost as dazed and surprised then her. 

“I am so sorry”, Fox started and lifted his gaze from the floor tiles.   
“I am so sorry I …” Words froze into his throat when seeing Senator Chuchi being the person he was partly pinning them down by his own body. Oh. No. He jerked away as if the senator had been something poisonous. Oh. No. Why, oh why from all of the beings it had to be this particular senator?   
“Forgive me Senator! Are you all right?” he hurried to say. 

“At ease, commander”, she said and started only now wondering if she actually was alright. Her elbow ached and there was a throb on her left hip, but nothing more. Just a fright! 

“I am not hurt”, the small Pantoran said and started to get into a sitting position. Her data pad had flung somewhere. Other of her guards rushed to get it for her when realizing what Riyo was looking for.   
“Thanks the Force”, Fox groaned.   
“Please, let me help you, senator”, he hurried to say and rushed to get up and Riyo made a small gesture showing she was fine on her own.   
“Thank you, Commander, but I am perfectly fine”, she said with a polite smile while pushing herself up from the floor and being handed her data pad. It had a crack at one of its corners and she grimaced. Nothing that could not be fixed, but she just … Did not like things going broken. 

Fox shifted his weight from one leg to another. And grimazed under his bucket when realizing that senators pad had gone broken. Stupid, stupid, stupid! If the Senator before had felt uncomfortable around him how was it going to be after this?!   
“Ma’am..” he started:” My sincerest apologies. I should have been more careful.”  
“Well. Maybe, but it was just an accident, CC-1010”, she said and actually reached to touch Fox’s arm. That.. Might have been against regulations, but the whole situation was most unfavorable in eyes of regulations. 

“But …”  
“I. “ 

They both started at the same time. 

“Umh, sorry, senator, please, you first”, Fox said and looked at the beautiful senator standing in front of him.   
“I was just going to say that it’s okay if you need to leave, Commander, you obviously had some urgent business in the first place”, Riyo said and smiled at him as a sign of not minding him leaving now and that there were no hard feelings.   
“Right, umh, thank you, Senator. I indeed should be going”, he said and when not knowing what else to do, saluted her before technically running away. Dank Farrik indeed. 

~~  
Riyo looked after the running Commander and took a deep breath. She was chiding herself for not using the moment as an advantage and being hoisted up by the CC-1010. A small voice in her head reminded Riyo that this had been the closest to anyone after being elected as a senator. Was she actually this touch starved? 

“Let’s head back home”, she informed her guards. 

~~ 

Fox ran the rest of the way down to the medbay. Thanks to the Force, nobody had at least seen that embarrassing collision! His dignity might have been permanently damaged if so. 

Luckily he soon got something else to think when he entered the med bay. It was late evening so it was relatively quiet here. Few of the beds had been isolated with curtains and there was a distinctive smell of disinfectant in the air. White sterility reminded Fox of Kamino, which was not entirely unhappy memory, but something he was grateful for was no more the reality they needed to live in. 

He saw Thorn standing there, his helmet held at his hip and clearly talking with a person laid in a hospital bed. A med droid was hovering around the vod laid in a bed. 

Oh sith spit. Was it serious? He had only got a short briefing from Jek and Rys of events at Toydoria and it had sounded … not life threatening. Thorn saw him coming and made a small nod letting Fox stand there.

“Fox?” he heard Thire asking and turned fast to look at his brother. Thires right leg was supported in a raised position with a cushion, and there was a fresh set of bandages covering the outer side of his knee, indicating that something had been opened and poked.   
“Vod! How are you?” Fox asked and reached to squeeze the shoulder of his brother.   
“It’s nothing serious. Or …” Thire lift an eyebrow:” Or should I get worried since you both are here? Did Kea forgot to mention that I am actually dying?”   
He was not serious and Fox snorted under his bucket. The tight feeling from his chest was easing. 

His brother was going to be fine. The Galaxy was cold, the Galaxy was unfair and the Galactic civil war was hungry for the lives of his brothers, but at least this time one of those lives was not going to be his little brothers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a different chapter planned and written. Then I started to re-watch the Clone Wars and needed to add this as a sign of it how important his brothers are to Fox and to show where we are at that timeline. Had a little trouble to do this properly, but now I'm rather happy. Hope that you too are. 
> 
> This too was not my original intention but I think Fox might be somewhat depressed.


	4. 4

“How serious do you think are the threads towards senator Orn Free Taa?" Thorn asked. They have just been in a half an hour meeting with the aid of Senator of Ryloth about the current security status of her .. well superior. It was ugly to suppose things about anyone, but even now Fox knew that the senator did not choose his aides due their experience or even smartness. He chose them because they were attractive. And well. When talking about twi'leks there were a lot of persons that were considered attractive by the other species as well. It was a pity that even twi’leks themselve were feeding stereotypes of their own species.   
“That’s kind of a problematic question, vod”, Fox pondered out loud:”All the threats towards senators should be taken seriously, no matter how odd and vague since we can't know what they really think. We naturally need to investigate them along the Coruscant Security Forces. Some are less likely to be true but we still can’t just assume that something is done by some nutjob. And after all, Ryloth has bravely opposed the Seppies."  
"Yes, they have”, Thorn had to admit. They were silent for a moment. Lot of good men had been lost in a few weeks along with Jedi Master Ima-Gun Di. Losing captain Keeli was still like a fresh wound to many of those who had known him. 

“But don't tell me you have also been dutied to that?" Thorn said after a while with a low voice when they passed by a group of senators who were in deep conversation while their aides and guards stood a few meters away, clearly getting inpatient.   
They made way when seeing two clones coming. Only a handful of the Senators seemed to actually like clones, but none really dared to stop them doing their jobs. Not especially if it was anything security related. No. Some of them were not that smart, but even they were not that stupid.   
"It is a important task. The chancellor gave it to be my responsibility", Fox kind of defended his own involvement on the matter.  
"Oh yeah? Along all the other things you are supposed to do?" Thorn asked and Fox could swear he was lifting an eyebrow as if not agreeing with him.   
"Yes. Along all the other things."   
"And you have not dared to delegate it?" He asked and pressed a button of a turbo lift. Their next meeting was going to be at seven floors higher with the senator of Corellia who was still sour about what had happened to them on their small adventure.   
"Well. No. I mean…" Fox tried to defend himself on this matter even when there actually was nothing to defend himself. At least Fox claimed so.   
"You are hogging the responsibilities again, ori'vod."   
Fox turned his head sharply away. As if that would dodge the question and as if that would make the unwanted observation go away. Damn, Thorn was way too sharp. At least their lift arrived and he could avoid answering before in it. 

“You have three of us under your command and we all have 16 captains, Fox '', Thorn reminded his ori’vod and could not help but smirk when hearing the frustrated puff.   
“If you are not going to delegate things, we are going to rat you out to Kea”, he said, mentioning their head medic.   
“Are you saying that you really want to go there?” Fox asked with a bit of a dense tone.   
“Sure!”   
“You are so weird”, the older clone huffed, making Thorn chuckle.   
"Fine. Go then if you really like it", Fox scoffed but was not really mad about the idea.   
"I definitely will!" Thorn said and the older clone was certain that his younger brother was smiling under his bucket. That smart ass.. 

"Okay we still have an update meeting with Senator Kharrus's aides and after that with Senator Organa's aides as well", Thorn reminded or rather said it out loud to process that in his head: "Then supper, fresher, stretching and bed."   
Fox made a small snort. Yeah. Maybe for his vod but definitely not for him. He needed to check the reports of men, supplies, vehicles, order suitable captains and squads for suitable operations and try to make sure all was running smoothly.  
Meetings, presenting, planning, answering to Chancellors requests to aid senators, dealing with senators asking security support. That was something that the Senate Guards had used to do but what was now his duty along many other duties. Fox hated to admit that Thorns claim of his duty hogging seemed to be uncomfortable true. 

They just stepped out from the turbolift when Thorn's comlink chirped. Fox saw how his vod picked it up immediately.   
"Commander Thorn, how delightful that you could pick this up", a gran senatorial aide Mashlave Ask.   
“Ma’am”, Thorn politely greeted them.   
“I am terribly sorry commander, but I am afraid that senator Kharrus and I are still tied in a rather important meeting with his doge Urus. Would it be possible to send to you the details of our current security concerns without having an actual meeting?”   
Fox almost bit his lip. Senator Kharrus’s security update has been postponed already twice. But then, there were no real threats toward the gran senator. And they should have been instantly telling if something urgent was going to appear. At least if they had any sense. Fox nodded to Thorn when seeing his brother tilting his bucket slightly towards him   
"If you insist so, ma'am, but I must remind you that it is then essential that you inform the Coruscant guard if something sudden happens or if there are any safety concerns", Stone reminded them.   
"We will remember this, commander", the aide said, clearly sounding relieved and bowed their head slightly:" Thank you."  
When the com call ended Fox found himself musing how nice the thank you had felt. Chancellor Palpatine and only a handful of senators regularly said thank you to them. Naturally some were busy and could not spend extra time and the clones indeed understood the weight of a duty.   
But sadly, most of them were just regularly mean to Fox and all of his brothers. 

“Seems that we have an hour of free time then”, Thorn said and Fox could not help but snort again. Hardly free time. He at least could name 20 things he needed to do. 

And suddenly Fox realized that he stood behind the door of Senator Chuci. He could not help but wonder whether the senator was here or not.   
He kept telling himself that he had been bothered by the fact that because of him senators' data pad had broken and that he had not been really able to properly apologize for it and that was the only reason to see Senator Chuchi. His brothers would try to incline something else if they ever were going to find out this, but they were horrible friends anyway. 

But yes, Fox had apologized from Senator even though it had been so hasty. So horribly hasty and … Well. Fox was embarrassed by his own behavior, even the senator had said it was fine. Understandable.   
They were such a nice person that making them somehow upset made Fox feel bad. Like, really really bad. As if he had insulted 99 or something. 

But what would he say?   
Sorry? That sounded just so lame. 

Fox frowned. Would the Senator even want to see him? Why would they want to see him? Stars. This was clearly a bad idea. What had he been thinking?! After all, Senator Chuchi was a natborn. Why would they want anything to do with a clone? Not a thing the Pantoran had ever done was inclined that Senator Chuci was disliking the clones like so many others did. No. The small Senator had always been so nice, so polite, so understanding. Too understanding even if asked from Fox.   
He shifted weight from one leg to another feeling the knot tighten in his guts. Thanks to the stars from his bucket if the said Senator would have been there they would ever notice how anxious he was. Hopefully not. 

The clone commander licked his lips to contain his nervousness and was shaked away from his thoughts by Thorn carefully tapping his shoulder. 

“You there, vod?”   
Fox had been staring at the door of Senator Chuchi’s office awhile at that point.  
“Yes. Yes. I am here”, he answered hastily:” Do not put your sticky fingers to my armor.”   
“Yeah, and you surely always have clean hands”, the younger trooper snorted:” I was asking would you like to join me into mess to have something to eat now when we have time?”   
“Ah. No. I’m afraid I need to fill some reports. Could you ask them to bring something … like a cup of caf to my office?” he asked and could sense Thorns disapproval.   
“You gotta eat Fox.”   
“I have eaten!”   
“Okay, commander, I need you to state to me someone who can confirm your claim”, the other commander said with his best interrogation tone crossing his arms across his breastplate.   
“Well.. I..”   
“HA! Knew it. You are so coming to eat with me.” 

And to be honest it was maybe the best since if left alone Fox might have been thinking about again of a certain senator.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wanted to give some brotherly moments to Fox. 
> 
> This was also a differently written chapter at first but added some more stuff in it and I think it is better this way. 
> 
> I am thrilled to all of your kudoses and kind comments of eternalqueenofthemyscira. <3 Hopefully you don't need to wait this long for next update. It has just been hectic weeks at work and unfortunately I got paid from work and not fic writing. xD
> 
> And yes. Kea is a OC.


	5. 5

Call from chairman Cho was never a good sign if asked from Riyo. Or rather that her superior politician never called her just to ask how she was. No. He always wanted something and Riyo had a feeling that it was the case this time too.   
On the other hand. Why would their relationship be any different? To be honest Riyo had a feeling she would have been scared if the elderly pantoran had suddenly taken interest in her private life. Which, at current state, was non-existent. But what had she expected? They were only partners due the work she and Chairmen needed to do. No because of something else. She really needed to adjust her attitudes there towards older Pantoran. Maybe they, after all, would find a tune they were sharing? 

Riyo straightened her posture. She was wearing a lilac poncho with golden embroidery. Her pants were still her pyjama pants and she had fluffy blue and purple striped socks but the Chairman would not see that since Riyo was already sitting behind her working desk at her private apartment. 

"Chairman Cho, how do you do?" She greeted the stern looking man with a polite nod.

"Wonderfully, dear Senator. Just perfectly", the older Pantoran said, eyeing Riyo as if he would have been watching a new speeder that was on sale. 

"I'd like to discuss with you, Senator, today about the happenings at the Ryndellia system", the older politician started and now Riyo must agree Chairman actually was talking about something that catches her interest as well.   
"We need instantly to make a statement of opposing and judging the attack against wounded troops, senator. No matter that we are in war against the separatist, it is still a disgrace towards values of all civic sentients and old Pantoran military virtues. Is it really true that the Republic does have only one off-Kaminoan medical station for the clone soldiers?" He asked and Riyo frowned.   
"Let me see'', she said and tapped her data pad. The Senators had been informed and her eyes went wide when her eyes found the exact line saying so.   
"Yes. It is."   
"But that is just stupidity", older Pantoran scoffed:" What kind of idiots are in charge there to semi publicly announce that this miserable piece of bolts is their only med station and how badly organized the GAR munition is to allow this disaster of med care happen?"   
Riyo moved uneasily. She had no clear answers for Chairmen's questions and his points had made her actually feel very uneasy. She had no idea how the military actually worked. 

"Senator. I want you to step up and demand to be included in the GAR munition committee", Chairman Cho told her, making Riyo almost gasp from sheer surprise. She had no skills about military organization. All that she had been organizing were political meetings, gatherings, birthday parties and some fundraisers. 

"It is unforgivable that the Republic treats their assets so badly. The clones do cost a lot of credits each and If they are not maintained with sufficient equipment, medical or other ways, they are a wasted resource”, the Chairman said, making Riyo’s skin crawl. Resource, maintenance. She instantly was thinking about CC-1010.   
Riyo bit her cheek not saying anything she had not thought full through.   
Assets. The clones were handled as ones and even after her brief encounters with them Riyo was able to say that they were not just a bunch of mindless droids that the Separatists were using. Even comparing them made her feeling annoyed and worried in a way she actually could not describe.   
She lifted her shoulders a bit, straightening her spine and forced a long steady exhale through her nose. 

But that was just a hunch and good research and politics was never made just because someone had a hunch. Riyo had wanted to become a politician because of being in such a position she currently was she was able to make this Galaxy a better place. She had never dreamed to be a senator, well, that was a lie. She had, but not at this age. Maybe after years and years. But now Riyo was here and it was her duty to bring further Pantoran values and the values of this Republic into every system belonging to it and made sure that everyone living in it had equal rights and privileges as well as duties.   
And to handle sentient beings, that she had a hunch the clones were, as they were some sort of assets, that was just wrong. So wrong. But to state that out loud she needed more proof. Riyo was not sure what she was going to do with that proof: the clones were almost as new things than her appointment as a senator and even there were negative tendencies towards them, Riyo was not aware what was the majority opinion the Senate had about them. That was also a fact that made this matter harder to process.   
And even the young Senator knew she was here to represent her people, the Pantorans, Riyo knew that turning a blind eye towards the issue and not caring for the clones and their poor treatment would have made her lesser in the eyes of her people. Lesser and a failure to represent the values she wanted to press on. And if being part of the war effort in more than baseline Senator, she would be able to get more information about the clones and see if her hunch was a correct one. And if it was, being a member in … Defense and War stuff,   
A war was a kind of abomination of the working democracy but since this war was to maintain their way of life Riyo had to agree with it. She was not a pacifist. Oh no, not even near one like Duchess Kryze of Mandalore whose fortitude was something to be admired. 

To be honest her own way to see these things was sometimes even bothering her.   
But she could not justify absolute pacifism. No, no matter how hard she tried. But this was something she could do. In fact something she should do. 

“I must agree with you, Chairman Cho", she started with a nod.   
"You are very right on the matter that the way the Republic is handling clones is unforgivable”, She slowly said when realizing that Chairmen expected her to comment.   
"I will announce that I am willing to work on behalf of the munitions of the grand army."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well well well. Here we have a small build up brick.


End file.
